It's hell dealing with a designer that won't release his projects until he gets things right, isn't it? If only he'd put out something half-assed, and follow up with tons of errata and a second edition to fix things.

It's hell dealing with a designer that won't release his projects until he gets things right, isn't it? If only he'd put out something half-assed, and follow up with tons of errata and a second edition to fix things.

Bowen also has the additional pressure of having designed one of the best wargames ever made. He has a reputation to live up to. It's tough getting to the top, but even tougher staying there. I don't think GoG will grace my gaming table until 2011.

Well, I was thinking this weekend (as I walked through the mall past the place where the hobby shop was a long time ago) how fun it was to check in there and suddenly find a new AH game that I had to have. Nowadays, I love the fact that I can find out about games like GoG, can ask questions and support its development, and clearly designers use places like this in the same manner and build anticipation for the game. Bowen has been very smart and good with this, but he has--no doubt for perfectly good reasons--dropped the ball these last six months. I guess, ultimately, if designers choose --and it is a choice-- to use this venue to generate enthusiasm I do believe that they have some responsibility to keep their audience regularly informed of developments--even lack of development if life intrudes. It is good business, but more, I believe it is a small--lets keep this in perspective-- personal responsibility.

Well, I was thinking this weekend (as I walked through the mall past the place where the hobby shop was a long time ago) how fun it was to check in there and suddenly find a new AH game that I had to have. Nowadays, I love the fact that I can find out about games like GoG, can ask questions and support its development, and clearly designers use places like this in the same manner and build anticipation for the game. Bowen has been very smart and good with this, but he has--no doubt for perfectly good reasons--dropped the ball these last six months. I guess, ultimately, if designers choose --and it is a choice-- to use this venue to generate enthusiasm I do believe that they have some responsibility to keep their audience regularly informed of developments--even lack of development if life intrudes. It is good business, but more, I believe it is a small--lets keep this in perspective-- personal responsibility.

Personal responsibility? I don't know about that. Certainly throwing the audience a few crumbs now and then can help keep anticipation at a fever pitch, but I don't know that he owes us this. To the best of my knowledge, Bowen's company is a one-man operation, so if his day job suddenly becomes demanding, or his family needs attention, or any other aspect of life suddenly looms larger, I can see how posting updates here might get difficult. Also, in a previous designer diary, Bowen mentioned that he was going to start work on his next game during this game's development, so as to cut down on the wait for the next game. Maybe he just has nothing to report at this time. But I feel confident that he will be back.

Bowen's games are some of the most unique and innovative in the wargaming world. They are also gorgeous works of art in terms of their components. For this innovation and creativity I think he deserves to work at his own pace and follow his own process. I would even say the innovation and creativity are produced by working at his own pace and in his own way.

As wargamers, we are the tiniest niche of this niche hobby of boardgaming. We can't expect that these tiny one-man operations will be able to do the kind of constant PR that bigger companies do.

1. Bowen Simmons please take as much time as you need to develop GoG. I'm really looking forward to it, but in the meanwhile I will enjoy myself with Napoleon's Triumph, which I haven't played nearly enough (or, as underplayed, Bonaparte at Marengo).

2. The diary is a great read, but now all has become silent all of a sudden, it would be nice (not necessary) if a minor update was posted every once in a while. But I'm aware that posting something like 'nothing to say today' is meaningless.

3. Since postage and taxes for packages from the US horrify me, I will patiently wait until Spiel'11, or Spiel'12 where I hope to buy it from Histogame.

It's hell dealing with a designer that won't release his projects until he gets things right, isn't it? If only he'd put out something half-assed, and follow up with tons of errata and a second edition to fix things.

It's hell dealing with a designer that won't release his projects until he gets things right, isn't it? If only he'd put out something half-assed, and follow up with tons of errata and a second edition to fix things.

Yes but think of all the extra cash he could make if it was... oops! just slightly wrong the first time and he had to remake it and resell it to all the rabid fans!

I used the 'learn about US history' excuse once and dragged her along several civil and independence war battlefields, when last we visited the US.

Spend three days investigating Gettysburgs, fascinating, allthough [and not meaning to be disrespectfull] by the end of that 3rd day we'd seen so many statues, we would not mind if we never saw a statue ever again.

The place seems literally littered with statues.And of course, being into history, you can not resist taking a look at every single one of them and reading the inscriptions.

I used the 'learn about US history' excuse once and dragged her along several civil and independence war battlefields, when last we visited the US.

Spend three days investigating Gettysburgs, fascinating, allthough [and not meaning to be disrespectfull] by the end of that 3rd day we'd seen so many statues, we would not mind if we never saw a statue ever again.

The place seems literally littered with statues.And of course, being into history, you can not resist taking a look at every single one of them and reading the inscriptions.